God’s Power

“For since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities—his eternal power and divine nature—have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that people are without excuse.” (Romans 1:20)

Have you ever experienced a miracle? Has something unexplainable happened to you? Have you ever been through a situation that seemed impossible to navigate, only to have a solution present itself? Small or big, miracles happen around us every day. God is at work all the time!

We have many demonstrations of God’s power in the Bible. David slayed the giant Goliath. Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego survived being thrown in a blazing hot fiery furnace. Daniel survived a night in a hungry lions’ den. And this time of year, we celebrate the miracle of Jesus coming to earth and being born of a virgin Mary. Jesus did many miracles while He was on earth. Then He died on the cross to pay the penalty for all of our sins, and three days later rose from the dead! Only God can do that!

The same God who had the power to perform all these miracles so long ago is the same God we serve today. And He is still performing miracles today! Our family has our own “big” miracle of our now 3 1/2 year old son Asher, who survived my cancer treatments while he was in the womb and then 40 days in the NICU while his lungs developed. Today you would never know he had been through all of that. He’s a normal, energetic kid who spreads happiness and joy wherever he goes!

But God doesn’t only work through “big” miracles. He works in the small things of everyday life as well. We receive an unexpected bill and God provides through an unexpected gift. We have a big task to accomplish and God provides someone to help us with it. We are feeling overwhelmed and something gets canceled to give us the break we need. God is at work in all these details to work things out for our good. It’s easy to miss these “small” miracles if we are not paying attention, but demonstrations of God’s power are all around us.

We have seen the power of God at work over these past weeks. He truly does own the cattle on a thousand hills (Psalm 50:10) and meets all our needs (Philippians 4:19.) We have had funds come in to share special outings as a family. We watched a couple movies at the movie theater, including one in 3D to celebrate Adam’s 10th birthday! We also enjoyed some game nights and movie nights at home. Eric and I have enjoyed going out for lunch dates and sharing a Cinnabon at the mall, just like we used to do when we were dating.

We took the older boys shopping for suits. They have always loved having suits and dressing up for special occasions, but haven’t had them for a few years. They loved dressing up for church on Christmas Sunday and celebrating the birth of our Savior in their brand new suits! Then we got to open all the presents that were overflowing under our Christmas tree! Slater Baptist Church sent a group out to help us in November. Part of their gift to us was money for our four kids to buy “big” Christmas gifts for each other. We also had the Columbia Community adopt our family for Christmas and they brought in a ton of presents! Add in gifts from family and our tree was overflowing! We truly had a blessed Christmas!

We have also been blessed to have many visitors continue to come through. We had a full house for Christmas with my grandpa from Texas, my parents, my brother and his family, Eric’s parents, and his sister, all from Iowa! Eric’s other three siblings were able to come out a couple weekends ago, as well as my Aunt and Uncle. We also had a visit from out dear friend and pastor from back in Iowa. We shared many fun times playing games, making Christmas goodies, and just being together. What a blessing!

We continue to get many cards, letters, and gifts in the mail everyday. The Columbia Schools staff brought a very generous gift to bless our family. We also received a box of cards from the kids and staff at the Bennington Schools back in Nebraska. We are so blessed to have so many loving and encouraging people in our lives.

And last but not least…drum roll please…the Wilmeths have a NEW VAN! We are truly amazed at how God has provided through so many of you! When I say new, it is by far the newest vehicle we have ever owned. We have never had a vehicle under 100,000 miles and this one only has 24,000. Usually we don’t buy vehicles in the same decade they were made, but this one is a 2016. I still can’t believe it is our van! We got a great deal on it and it has nearly all the bells and whistles with it. A lot has changed since our 2001 van was made, so we are having fun discovering how everything works in our new van. It will be a blessing to our family for many years to come.

You may be wondering how my health is doing these days. This past week my breathing has become more labored, so I had to go back on my oxygen. This probably indicates the cancer in my lungs is growing again. I also get very winded with any activity. Pray that I will continue to have enough energy and stamina to do things with Eric and the kids as they are still on Christmas break this week and we have plans for some more fun outings.

Thank you all for going on this journey with us. We are so thankful for the prayers, love, and support of so many in so many different ways! You are truly a blessing to us!